An idle Walk

[Seras Rose]

The sound of the lightsabers clashing over her head made her jerk at the violent, loud noise, amplified by the natural fear one would always feel in such her situation. Though she managed to more or less keep her head, finishing the roll to the side and looking up, to seeing Viper bearing down from above. Several things flew through Seras's mind so fast she barely had time to recognize them, though he could perhaps see them as well in her eyes and posture.

First was indeed, as he wanted, fear, and shock, though she wasn't confused. Followed by that was anxiety. Attack? Defend? Retreat? Freeze? Scream in terror? Yet none of those were right. And as soon as those thoughts started to race in her mind, that 'spark' found its oil, and began to burn. Some people use their fear as strength. Others are ruled by it and freeze. Some don't feel it. She conquered it with courage, and stepped forward. It wasn't a matter of belief in her physical strength nor skill. Indeed Seras understood it was very unlikely she could win this situation. But her will and determination wasn't going to sit idly by now. And so she proverbially 'stood'.

All this ran through her mind in an instant, and showed in her body language and posture. Shifting her body, rather then do anything like retreat, block, she moved forward and attacked, about the time he went for a thrust. The plan was simple. Knock, or at least catch his lightsaber with her own, and slow it down enough to land a solid, firm punch in his stomach, aiming roughly for the solar plexus. As for the overhead swing? She simply hoped she would be too close for him to be able to hit her with anything more then his hilt.

Now, while this is all well and good, he had much more momentum and power then she did in her just getting up position, and even if he didn't have that momentum, in physical power he had her matched, for obvious reasons. So she bet her hope on his momentum not allowing him to dodge her quickly done punch. And as said before, there was the simple skill difference between them. He was a Knight, and she just a Padawan. So a large amount of her bet was on him being surprised by a full, and admittedly reckless, frontal attack. Would it work? Who knew. But she was confident in her choice and action, and the fire in her eyes showed it, even if she was defeated.

[member="VlPER"]

 

[VlPER]

Viper was taken by complete surprise by her defiant defense. It made no sense! He had the high ground so to speak, the momentum, power, and timing all on his side. And yet incredulously, she stood her ground and countered him.

He parried her thrust attack easily enough, but with her moving into the space he had designated as a "landing" area for his jump, the result was a crashing together of bodies. Her defiant stubborn defense had one ill effect on Viper. It took him back to that fateful moment on Manaan, the day of the attack. Indeed her every move and thought process seemed to mirror his. A stubborn determination to never back down. And for the briefest of moments, he did not see Seras, but Invicta the Sith!

As the two collapsed to the ground, one of his sabers flew free from his hand. Quickly trying to recover, he lunged out for the woman's neck. Now sitting on top of her, he had instinctively drawn back his sword and prepared to finish the fight. At this point, with the force he was exerting onto her throat, and the deadly seriousness that now permeated his still near glowing yellow eyes, she'd probably have a sense that he was not training anymore. No indeed, for just that briefest of moments, he had been taken back to the horrors of that battle so many years ago.

However, that moment disappeared as quickly as it came. As realization dawned on him what he was about to do, his eyes returned almost instantly to their natural green hue. A shocked expression began to replace the one filled with a determination to see her destroyed only a second ago. Immediately deactivating his saber, he released her neck and stood up. He quickly turned his back on her ashamed of almost losing control like that. Recalling his second blade he finally spoke. "My apologies Seras. You surprised me with that wreckless move is all." He was obviously hiding some important details. But he wasn't in a really sharing move on that topic.

He turned back toward her with an almost sad expression. "A good general knows how to beat his enemy. But a great general knows his own weaknesses and knows when to retreat. To stubbornly fight to the end for nothing is foolishness. If you are going to do so, make sure it is for a worthy cause. Make sure it is for the right reasons. And always make sure you stay true to the code."

Shaking his head, he let out a sigh and knelt down while holding out a hand to help her up. "With that said. I do believe you have the potential of being a great Jedi someday. Perhaps even a master swordsman if you keep in mind a few of these principles." His expression began to change once more. This time it was a smirk that was tugging at the corner of his mouth as he helped her up. "Come." It is time we head on back.

[member="Seras Rose"]

 

[Seras Rose]

It perhaps made no sense on his end. But to her it was the only move. Unable to step back, go to the side, or block, all that is left is simple. Forward. Quite simple, logical thinking really, at least she thought it was. And still did as she was thoroughly smacked and knocked to the ground, starting to see starts for a few moments as he landed on top of her. Which meant that, even though she didn't see his face besides a blurry image, she felt the feeling and tension in the air, and it made her entire body taunt and stiff, and having to struggle some to breath. She wanted to say something, but something stopped her. Maybe it was the feeling of the lightsaber being there, or something in the force, but she just felt a compulsion to stay... Silent.

And so she did, and when he got up, she coughed slightly, not out of any injury, just to clear her throat. That wasnt something she had felt before, and her mind was hazy, but she felt he defiantly had some sort of urge there. What it was, was rather plain, and didn't need to be stated.

She listened to him speak with a neutral face. Not a judging one, nor a fearful one, simply, listening, though that spark in her eyes was still there, even as she took her hand and got up. After he finished speaking, she thought for a moment and spoke herself.

"Maybe this is a bit presumptuous of me to say, never having been in real battle before. But i hope to only ever be in battles whose cause i could give my all for, though i still understand what you mean. And as for the code, of course." She said simply, though it seemed like she had more personal thoughts on the code.

"Master swordsman 'eh? That is the plan." Seras said with a young, enthusiastic grin. Though she seemed oddly un-phased by what happened.

When they started to head back to the Temple, she hesitantly spoke. "Ah... Viper? I have something i want to say but i am not all too sure how to say it." Since Manaan had been brought up, it had been something she was debating on when and how to say, and now felt like the right time. Both to clean the air, and it just felt like it was the right time to say it.

[member="VlPER"]

 

[VlPER]

Viper nodded his head in understanding. If only the galaxy worked so simply he thought to himself. "Of course. That is the ideal." He began. "However, never underestimate someone's ability or desire to force you into a battle you don't wish to be in. It is for those situations you must prepare. Hubris." He finished with succinctly.

Hearing her words on her plan for being a Master swordsman, he chuckled. When she mentioned having something difficult to say, he stopped walking and turn to face her directly. "Well...I have found the best thing to do in those situations is just spit it out. Then discuss until all is understood."

Tilting his head to the side slightly, he continued curiously. "What's on your mind?"

[member="Seras Rose"]

 

[Seras Rose]

"This is true. Though less a discussion and more of a statement from me." She said simply, Seras pondering for a moment how to say it, before nodding, and looking up at him. "Mmm... I know what you did. At Manaan. Regardless of everything else and what people say... Thank you for defending my home." She said simply, with a little bow. Though there was a good deal of held back emotion in her voice, which wasn't surprising, considering what happened to her home, though after speaking, it settled down. She had said what she wanted to say.

"Anywho.... That was all. Continue heading back now?" She asked with a light smile to try and clear any awkwardness that might have appeared in the air. Though quite possibly it only made it worse, quite amusing in its own way really.

[member="VlPER"]

 

[VlPER]

His body stiffened some when she said she knew what he had done at Manaan. The whole subject now immediately made him tense and anxious. Viper of course, was not surprised by her knowing who he was. It was plastered all over the holonet after all. It was perhaps just a wishful sort of thinking now that he not be remembered at all, than for that day. Her final words though took him by surprise. It was the first kind word without reservation he had gotten yet.

He truly didn't know how to respond to it at first. In the end, he simply remained quiet and returned her small bow.

Then back to her bubbly self, he chuckled and nodded. "Yup. I'll be needing to head out soon after all. And you? What will you be returning to? Classes? Training? Or you going to call it an early night?"

[member="Seras Rose"]

 

[Seras Rose]

She had noticed who he was, and had simply waited for the right timing to bring it up. She wasn't sure why, but she got the feeling it was a good idea going by his reaction, to wait to say her thanks.

"Where will i be returning to hmm?" Seras murmured to herself, tilting her head and thinking. "Classes and all are done... So probably an early night. What about you?" She asked, curious about where he himself was headed. "Headed out somewhere or?"

[member="VlPER"]

 

[VlPER]

Viper nodded simply. "Yes. I'll be working with the Grandmaster on an upcoming mission actually. Nothing to terribly important or exciting I imagine, so don't ask." He said with a wink, guessing that her no doubt curious would make that the next question.

"And early night, eh? No fellow Padawans to get in trouble with? Now this surprises me greatly. Man I could tell you some stories if I had more time." As they kept walking the buildings for the academy became visible once again and grew larger the closer they came to them.

As they got closer, he began tossing back and forth the idea of offering to train her. But technically, he wasn't supposed to. And he really didn't want to get her in trouble for his presumptuousness. So for now, he decided it best to not offer. Perhaps she would soon find a more qualified Master. He hoped so, Viper felt she had a lot of potential.

[member="Seras Rose"]

 

[Seras Rose]

"Oh naturally. Clearly a blue milk run to involve the grandmaster. Something the greenest initiate could handle indeed." She said with a nod and a very serious tone, and smirking in amusement and giggling after a moment. Though she didn't ask any more questions.

"Shhh... No one needs to know that someone stuck bang snaps under the instructors chair." Seras said in a quiet, joking tone of voice. Though with the glint in her eyes one almost couldn't quite tell if she was joking or being serious. Probably best not to know really.

She thought of the idea of asking, but now didn't seem like a good time. Though she certainly didn't meet any other masters so far that she was interested in, so Seras simply dropped the topic mentally as a whole.

When they arrived, she stretched and yawned. " And 'ere we are. When will you be back do you think? Would like to know, I would like training with you again." She said, looking over at him.

[member="VlPER"]

 

[VlPER]

Viper laughed at her initial comments, but when it came to the time frame for him being away, he could only shrug. "You never know with these sort of things. It could only be a couple days, could be a few weeks depending on how events play out. As for training..."

He paused her and brought a hand up to his chin to think on it. He had not trained anyone for many years now. Mostly because he was to wrexkless himself to take on a Padawan. Viper always felt he'd get the Padawan killed. But times had changed. While still an aggressive guardian by any measure, he had managed to tone down some.

And she was so intriguing in her own right, he couldn't help but want to take her on as his student. "You know....teeeechnically, I'm not supposed to be training anyone right now. Not until I prove to the council I haven't fallen to the dark side while away." It wasn't professional, but he couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly at the last comment.

"You sure you'd want me training you, now knowing that?" He eyed the woman and waited to see what she'd say.

[member="Seras Rose"]

 

[Seras Rose]

"Alright" She nodded, figuring it was going to be something like that, not all to surprised by it.

As for Seras, she had simply never found a master who she wanted to be taught by. The Few Guardians who were at the temple rarely were there long, which proved frequently troubling for her.

"Then in that case teeeechnichally we shouldn't have earlier." She said, raising an eyebrow at the darkside part, but not commenting on something that silly. "Yeah i would. Maybe more at some point." Seras said simply, indeed completely fine with it. She simply liked how he taught her and she could respect Viper himself. Despite not knowing much about him, she was okay with the thought of him being her master.

[member="VlPER"]

 

[VlPER]

"Pfft! What that?" He said pointing behind him to his old private training ground. "That wasn't training. That was just us talking casually while ensuring the spot was still fit for "future" training use." He like her, maintained a serious expression as if he completely believed what he had just said. However, just like her, Viper didn't hold it for long as he finally let out a low closed mouth chuckle.

Turning away from her gaze, he pondered her request a bit longer. She was certainly old enough to have a master by now. He could also appreciate her sense of humor, which was rare for Viper. There were precious few people in the galaxy that he felt he could actually connect and work well with. But she seemed to have what he'd be looking for in a padawan in spades.

"Very well Seras. After I return from my mission with the Grandmaster, I will begin training you. We won't be able to make you my official Padawan till I am cleared for duty by the Council. But I don't see why I couldn't get you started in the meantime. Deal?"

He asked holding out his hand for her to take.

[member="Seras Rose"]

 

[Seras Rose]

"Ah yes true." She said, nodding her head solemnly, grinning and managing to resist giggling for a moment until he did, chuckling a bit with an amused grin.

Seras gave Viper his time to think and contemplate, wondering what his response would be exactly, and hoped for the best. And was glad when she got what she hoped for, grinning broadly and nodding. Besides the other younglings, he was the first Knight she had ever actually hit it off with in such a way.

"Sounces like an excellent deal to me. And good luck on your mission."

Seras said, taking his hand and shaking it with a firm grip. "So... Shall we head back then? The sooner things are set straight the better."

[member="VlPER"]

 

[VlPER]

He raised an eyebrow, while maintaining his smile. "Now now. You should know there is no such thing as luck! Only the force. But thanks!" He finished with a wink. "As for heading back, ye---" Viper stopped while looking around. Suddenly realizing he was missing his outer robe, he sighed. "Nope. Got to go back and get my robe. ....Care to see if the area is still fit for "future" training one more time?"

He laughed as he headed back. If she'd joined him, then they would spend the rest of the evening sparring and talking before finally going back to the academy. Viper was just glad to have stumbled across her. It had been years since he so easily smiled.

[member="Seras Rose"]